take your answer off the air...

Talker's MagazineThe quirky talk radio trade mag. Check the Talk Radio Research Project- it's not very scientific, but places on the top 15 talkers list (scroll down to Talk Radio Audiences By Size)) are as hotly contested as Emmys (and mean just about as much).

The AdvocateNo, not THAT Advocate... it's the Northwest Progressive Institute's Official Blog.

Media MattersDocumentation of right-wing media in video, audio and text.

Orcinushome of David Neiwert, freelance investigative journalist and author who writes extensively about far-right hate groups

Hominid Views"People, politics, science, and whatnot"
Darryl is a statistician who fights imperialism with empiricism, gives good links and wry commentary.

Jesus' General An 11 on the Manly Scale of Absolute Gender, a 12 on the Heavenly Scale of the 10 Commandments and a 6 on the earthly scale of the Immaculately Groomed.

Irrational Public Radio "informs, challenges, soothes and/or berates, and does so with a pleasing vocal cadence and unmatched enunciation. When you listen to IPR, integrity washes over you like lava, with the pleasing familiarity of a medium-roast coffee and a sensible muffin."

The Moderate VoiceThe voice of reason in the age of Obama, and the politics of the far-middle.

News Hounds Dogged dogging of Fox News by a team who seems to watch every minute of the cable channel so you don't have to.

HistoryLinkFun to read and free encyclopedia of Washington State history. Founded by the late Walt Crowley, it's an indispensable tool and entertainment source for history wonks and surfers alike.

right-wing blogs we like

The Reagan WingHearin lies the real heart of Washington State Republicans. Doug Parris runs this red-meat social conservative group site which bars no holds when it comes to saying who they are and who they're not; what they believe and what they don't; who their friends are and where the rest of the Republicans can go. Well-written, and flaming.

November 19, 2009

Billy Bob: blame jane shannon!

Billy Bob (whose name is neither Billy nor Bob) worked long in
the Seattle radio market wearing a suit. He says the experience
heightened his sense of irony, augmented his influences, and diminished his circle of friends.

By Billy Bob

Soon, we may run out of radio people to talk about, but
until then, step aside Dear Abby. For I have some more of our readers’
bone-headed questions and my incredibly insightful retorts.

Dear Billy: I see all this crap
on your stupid Blatherwatch and the message boards
attacking Bonneville for firing morning news gal Jane Shannon from KIRO's Gregg Hersholt
show. But don't you think Bonneville knows what they're doing? The
ratings are at an all-time low. Revenue is off. I'm sure they do research
and I'm sure they had good reasons for getting rid of Jane. Signed, Eastlake Insider

Dear Billy: I'm a local ad
exec and last week I attended the Puget Sound Radio Broadcaster Association (PSRBA) Radio Day event. A lot of radio big wigs
were there including Entercom CEO David
Field. And all they talked about the importance
of local, local, local talent and product development. Jeez, just when KIRO canned Jane Shannon, KVI fired Kirby Wilbur, KUBE dumped the T-Man, Bonneville gave up on TBTL and The Mountain axed Marty Reimer. Thoughts? Signed, Mister AE

Dear AE: I think getting Frank Shiers back more than makes up for those small losses.

Dear Billy: I've met Kirby
Wilbur and still run into him from time to
time. I know it's tough to lose any job, but it must be really tough to
lose a high-profile job and everyone knows about it. What should I say to
him the next time I run into him? Signed, Not Sure

Dear Not: Try this, "Kirby, keep your chins up!"

Dear Billy: What in the
hell has happened to KKOL and their supposed 50,000
watt signal? I can't pick up the station anymore, almost anywhere. Signed, Tuning Troubles

Dear Billy: The right-wing
talk hosts (including Kirby Wilbur when he had a
show) are always ragging on government and saying private business can do
things better. But look at what Kirby Wilbur
said about his own company. He would have signed a new contract three
years ago for no pay increase, but the company offered him a 50% increase
anyway, even though no other station in town was trying
to hire him. What kind of negotiating is that? I work for the
government and no one gets a 50% pay
raise. Signed, Proud Bureaucrat

Dear PB: Have you seen broadcast stock prices? Who said radio
managers were smart?

Dear Billy: I'm really
disappointed in how local radio stations cover breaking news anymore. When that Sound Transit light rail train derailed in SODO
the other day, it seemed like none of the stations did a very good job
reporting on it until long after the fact. Who's responsible for
this? Signed, Track Commuter

Dear Track: If you mean, who is responsible for the train derailment? That
would be Jane Shannon.

Dear Billy: What's up with
KIRO-FM and the CBS radio news? Two
years ago they dumped the CBS network newscast at the top of the hour and a lot of people, myself included, were upset. This week I happened
to turn on the Dave Ross Show and, lo and behold, there's CBS news. Why
the change of heart? Signed, News Junkie

Dear NJ: The higher-ups at Bonneville just realized that that pinko
commie Dan Rather is no longer with CBS and so they've lifted their embargo.

Dear Billy: I'm a big
sports-radio listener. I listen to all the games, especially football,
and then I tune in to the sports-talk on KJR.
I'm so frustrated by the Huskies and Seahawks this
season. What's a fan to do? Signed, Ball Boy

Dear BB: I think the Huskies and Seahawks
will turn things around now that Jane Shannon is off the air.

I think it's particularly funny that Micha...oops, I meant "Billy Bob" has to source his questions from the Radio-Info Seattle board. As I said before, you're getting a bit stale, BB - but copying R-I posts isn't the answer.

Does anybody remember when Frank Shiers used to ask listeners with dissenting views to call the show, reassuring them with, "I'm not going to poop on you." I haven't heard him use that one in a while. What happened? Was he just saying it to get Styble's goat?

Frank's not going to poop on you. But he might pee in your mouth a little. That's how I'd describe the Shiers listening experience, anyway.

Someone above suggested Jane sue for sexual harassment? That would assume someone was the least bit sexually interested in her, or had intimidate her in some way. Is that the case? Highly doubt it. Radio stations changed employees when I worked in the industry long ago, and they still do. It's not personal, it's a business.

@Ginger Sexual harassment? Because she got fired instead of Gregg? How does that explain the new FEMALE co-host of their AM news? Despite lib thinking, sometimes people get fired NOT because they're female, or black, or Hispanic. It's BUSINESS.

kiro fm just had a news story on String Bean Coffee in Belltown. It employs homeless people and waywaed youth rescued from the streets. A worthy business for us to patronize. I challenge Monson to have coffee there- he of the sniffing nose and pious "poor choices" speeches.

i don't like him. seeing him in person would make no difference. i will never like him. i wasnt asking the prick to have coffee with me. i hope that i never have the displeasure of meeting him or seeing him. I challenge him to patronize the place and support their business instead of just being a judgmental, superior priss about homeless and others he accuses of making "poor choices".

It's true, Monson seems to hate the homeless. I don't think he cares whether they get a handout from a government program or a private charity. Poor choices are poor choices, a bum is a bum. Rewarding poor choices probably just encourages them to go out and make more poor choices.

That gets to the root of the problem with libertarianism. In order for it to work everyone must make good choices and exercise self discipline. The adults among us realize that most people don't make good choices and never will, and if you punish them for it many would sooner turn to a life of crime or beg for money to fulfill their needs because crime and begging is what they consider a "good choice". Think about it, are the slums (anywhere in the world) known for producing brain surgeons or petty criminals?

People like Monson make a common mistake of believing that if he can do it then everyone must be able to do it. I'd like to point out that he drove a book store into the ground. If the world were filled with clones of Dori Monson every business would be a failure and everyone would be shouting at one another. The world is not only filled with people libertarians approve of.

actually i did meet Monson once- not up close but several hundred feet away in the Kingdome at a Mariners game. In those days he had a gig with them where they would trot him out onto the field, before the home games started, to entertain the crowd with some baseball chatter. He looked and sounded ridiculous. I remember thinking it made our town look smalltime to have this little clown, this local buffoon, out on our Major League Baseball field. Needless to say they no longer have Monson do that .

Dori Monson has demonstrated that the American Dream is alive and well and anyone can achieve it.

The guy grew up in a broken alcoholic family and rose the occassion. He finished HS early, graduated UW early and worked his ass off to emerge as the top radio host in Seattle.

Dori made some bad decisions (i.e. the book store business failure) but has obviously bounced back. It's apparent that he adjusted his decision process and navigated life to be the success he is. The guy never had anything handed to him.

Libs from the top down want stuff handed to them. For instance, Michelle and Barack Obama's Ivy League education was handed to them by affirmative action.

If the world was full of people with the thought process of Dori Monson we would live in a society of limitless ambition, personal repsonsibility, fiscal prudence and selfless charity.

Was getting into the radio beusiness really that good of a decision? Really? People are getting fired left and right. To say that his success isn't largely due to luck and innate talent would be enormously disrespectful of the many fine broadcasters who are currently out of work.

I'm a "lib" and I do far more handing out than I do taking in. Don't take my word for it, look at all those rich Hoolywood elites and George Soros types who are all too happy to see their exorbitant tax rates raised should it will mean helping others.

If the world was full of Dori Monsons there would not be enough earlthy resources to satiate their enormous apetite. His clones would sit around all day loudly snorting and complaining about how no one was willing to take the lead and fix the problems.

Don't forget, this is a guy who complains about government for three hours a day every day but refuses to run for public office despite the advantage of his name recognition. I don't think a society full of do nothings would get very far.

You saw how far Susan Hutch got on name recognition. Monson can be more effective as a fiesty talk-show host than he can in politics. When you get into politics you pretty much play the game and go along with the good ol guys & gals. Ask Steve Largent about that or read his comments about the difficulty of trying to be effective in politics. So again you demonstrate your ignorance about the real goings-on in this world.

"Monson can be more effective as a fiesty talk-show host than he can in politics."

It's been pretty well established that there is nothing particularily "effective" about a talk show. The number of people who listen are statisticly insignificant. That he would err on the side of earning money only proves my point.

If Monson does run for office it will be only after radio become unprofitable, and I doubt his intentions would be much better than Susan Hutcherson who tried to lie to the people of the county about her true political leanings in order to make a grab for power that she was not qualified to possess.

You think council is a joke kiroidunno? Greg Nickels was on the Seattle city council and he became mayor. Dow Constantine was on the King County council and now he's the county executive. Think first, post second.

No, I think you're a joke. You don't know WTF you are talking about - EVER. You've become a pariah to this blog and you're pretty much discounted most of the time. But if it enhances your ego to spew the garbage you do then go for it. You really should try to find a way to make yourself useful tho.

If making good "choices" was all it took to be succesful like Dori Monson, Frank Shiers would have usurped Dave Ross' time slot long ago. If good choices were all it took to be successful, Dori's bookstore would still be in business. You're a lightweight.

You're only strengthening my case that Monson generaly made a poor decision by going into radio. Sure, it worked out for him, in the same way that people who spill hot coffee on their crotch sometimes win million dollar settlements.

And 1) Dave Ross must do pretty well and we have no issue with him.
2) I don't have to envy Monson ;)

"banked enough to send his girls...." how do you know what he has "banked"? You don't. Hpow much money has he blown at Emerald Downs and at the gamong tables of Vegas? He admits to both habits. He could be another Bill Bennett, who blew 7 million over the years in Las Vegas as a gambling fool.

Kiel Mortgage, would you say the lady who spilled coffee on her crotch and won several million dollars made a good decision in spilling coffee all over herself? Why don't you spill coffee on your crotch and let us know if you become successful to.

Nobody goes into radio to make big money. They do it for the nature of the work and the lifestyle. Career advisors will tell you that only a few people in the media industry ever make big money and that jobs are scarce. Going into the media business is also bad family planning, particularily if you one day intend to send your kids through college. You're unlikely to earn that kind of money and it is assumed that you will have to relocate to find work, and that means dragging your kids around from city to city.

Dori has succeeded in radio but he couldn't have known that would happen any more than Jane Shannon or Kirby Wilbur would have known they'd one day be out on the street. He has succeeded in staying in his home town and (allegedly) earning enough to send his kids to college through the fortunes of talent of serendipity, but there is no doubt that the initial decision to enter the media business was a poor decision had this outcome been his original goal.

With the way things are going in this market Dori may soon be out of work or perhaps transferred to sports talk. We can only hope he has saved enough to cover for such an eventuality.

The number of man-crushes on Dori is truly amazing. Not to mention rather icky.

A hundred years ago, Dori would be driving a wagon across the country, selling bottles of elixers he whipped up, promising miracles.
Dori has figured out what sells advertisements for KIRO which, in turn, gives him a nice income. That is the extent of his "influence."

Accusations of jealousy over Dori's success are ridiculous. Look at what he has had to become to get where he is.

Look who's talking, a suck-up to the Education Union and the dismal state program that exists. You'd better check it out cause word is the State's pension plans are in a bit of a hurt and getting worse. I hope you've provided as well as Dori has. We could be in in for strained times.

AA...it's a well known fact and confirmed on air by Dori that about 8 years ago he had an opportunity to take a syndication gig...he turned it down. This was an outstanding decision and was onviously based on his strong family values. It also demonstrated that Dori's "in it" for the cause not the money. A good man.

I prepare to a rediculous degree. I'm one of those freaks who abhors credit and liabilities, having said that, I know that most people don't plan ahead, and most people will never plan ahead. That's reality, and I would argue that when Dori got into the radio business he generaly was not planning ahead and only talked up the virtues of hoarding money after it had already landed in his lap.

Um... you can do a syndicated gig from anywhere. You don't have to move, and there's definitely no guarantee you will find fortune or security in syndication. Syndicated radio programs are constantly born and constantly dying. A specious claim upon a specious claim.

But maybe that's why Dori seems so bitter and is always talking about making the responsible choice. Maybe he figures he could have been the next Glenn Blech had he taken that offer.

David Gold did a show from Dallas that was nationwide. Rush broadcasts out of Palm Beach. Lars Larson is sundicated out of Portland. Michael Medved broadcasts on 150 or so stations from - Seattle. Either the mysterious syndication offer is a madeup pr stunt by Monson or else Monson's game was so pathetically weak he couldn't negotiate a deal that let him stay here in town, which means he wasn't wanted all that badly by this mysrterious , unknown radio network. either way it's weak and lame.

KVI am 570 KHz Visit the burnt-out husk of one of the seminal right-wing talkers in all the land. Here's where once trilled the reactionary tones of Rush Limbaugh, John Carlson, Kirby Wilbur, Mike Siegel, Peter Weissbach, Floyd Brown, Dinky Donkey, and Bryan Suits.
Now it's Top 40 hits from the '60's & '70's aimed at that diminishing crowd who still remembers them and can still hear.

KTTH am 770 KHzRight wing home of local, and a whole bunch of syndicated righties such as Glennn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Medved, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Lars Larsony, and for an hour a day: live & local David Boze.